Saturday Trivia

New website - Bad Archaeology
Bad Archaeology

Explore the diversity of archaeological misconceptions, mistakes and distortions. We are dedicated to exposing Bad Archaeology wherever we find it, naming and shaming, pulling no punches in exploring all its shameless horror.

Bad Archaeology is the brainchild of a couple of archaeologists who are fed up with the distorted view of the past that passes for knowledge in popular culture. We are unhappy that books written by people with no understanding of real archaeology dominate the shelves at respectable bookstores. We do not appreciate news programmes that talk about ley lines (for example) as if they are real.

In short, we are Angry Archaeologists.

Sections include Fraudulent Archaeology, Extraterrestrial Archaeology, Forgotten Civilizations and Conspiracy Theories. It is a very well designed and attractive site, easy to navigate and well written. The archaeologists behind the site are Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and James Doeser. To find out more about them see the site's FAQs. I very much like the fact that their online store (powered by Amazon, of course) includes both a "Good Archaeology" AND a "Bad Archaeology" section!

This ties in quite nicely with Margaret Maitland's post on the Eloquent Peasant (Why the Aliens did NOT build the Pyramids), mentioned yesterday, about how all the evidence points to the fact that aliens really did not build the Giza pyramids.

The Swarm of Possible Meanings Surrounding the Pyramids
ArtCal

Rummaging through histories of Egyptology and the incidence of Egyptomania in the Occidental world, Timothy Hull's exhibition at Freight + Volume will resemble a conceptually focused yet rambling cabinet of curiosities. This variegated Wunderkammer will consist of sundry, plaster Egyptian tourist statues, scents of funerary unguents, sounds of Egyptologists describing their discoveries, armchair traveler landscape videos, and a collection of feathery, heavily patterned drawings and built-up, mosaic-like oil paintings.

A varied cast of characters make appearances throughout the exhibition via drawings, paintings and mixed media works... men of adventure and tomb robbers, scientists, archeologists, ancient Egyptians, pharaohs and their personal effects, icons, books, museum pieces and venerable statues, the mysterious sphinx and of course, the great pyramids themselves. Together they comprise a sense of something justified and ancient to quote the esoteric stadium-house band the KLF.

Kemeticism
International Network of Kemetics
And on the subject of alternative approaches to archaeology . . . .

Mission Statement: The International Network of Kemetics (INK) is an organization dedicated to the networking and sharing of knowledge among the practitioners of the Kemetic Faith, and to helping facilitate the reconstruction of the Ancient Egyptian religious practices and culture. It is not a single Temple, school, House or group, but a collection of different groups and individuals working together to help revive the Ancient Egyptian religion. . . .

We define Kemeticism as a re-creation of the religion of Ancient Egypt, and includes the revival of its belief systems, its spirituality and other relevant aspects of its culture, such as literature and art. It is a belief in the Neteru. It is a way of living in harmony with and upholding ma'at, which is balance in all things: the cosmos, the natural world and that of human society. The practice of the Kemetic religion today strives to be a living revival of the religion of the peoples of Ancient Egypt.

See the above page for more.


Fiction Review: Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
The Telegraph (Jeremy Jehu)

Nefertiti becomes "Chief Wife" to the crazed, egotistical usurper Akhenaten who, having murdered his older brother, plunders the temples of the god Amun to pay his army to jerry-build a city in his honour instead of fighting the invading Hittites. . . .

Though only serviceably written, the American writer Michelle Moran's reconstruction of loopy celebrity royal worship 3,300 years BD (Before Diana) is a splendidly amoral murderous soap.